The West Chester Fire Department (WCFD) has received the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Mission: Lifeline® EMS Gold Achievement Award for its commitment to offering rapid and research-based care to people experiencing the most severe forms of heart attacks and strokes, ultimately saving lives.
Emergency medical services staff can begin treatment when they arrive — up to an hour sooner than if someone goes to the hospital by car. EMS staff are also trained to provide resuscitation efforts to someone whose heart has stopped.
Mission: Lifeline is a national initiative to advance the system of care for patients with high-risk, time-sensitive disease states, such as severe heart attacks and strokes. The program helps reduce barriers to prompt treatment — starting from when 911 is called, to EMS transport, and continuing through hospital treatment and discharge.
“Arguably the most important link in the chains of survival for acute stroke and cardiovascular emergencies is Emergency Medical Services and prehospital professionals,” said Kacey Kronenfeld, M.D., FAEMS, chair of the American Heart Association's Mission: Lifeline EMS Taskforce.
“Early condition identification, stabilization and prehospital interventions, and initiation of actions within the regional systems of care provide patients with the best chance for receiving expedient definitive therapies leading to optimal outcomes and maximized quality of life,” Dr. Kronenfeld added. “The American Heart Association Mission: Lifeline EMS awards are an important way to recognize the crucial roles and performances of EMS personnel in stroke and cardiac patients’ care.”
The Mission: Lifeline EMS achievement award focuses on agencies’ on-scene care, bringing to the forefront the collaboration and contributions to patient care for prehospital providers.
“West Chester is honored to be recognized by the American Heart Association for our dedication to providing optimal care for heart attack and stroke patients,” said Jason Witte, Bureau Chief, Emergency Medical Services. “The Mission: Lifeline program puts proven knowledge and guidelines to work on a daily basis so patients have the best possible chance of survival.”
It has been an eventful couple of months for WCFD. In mid-May, the Ohio Department of Public Safety named West Chester as the EMS unit of the year for all of Ohio. These two new AHA Gold Awards are icing on the cake!
WCFD earned the AHA Gold Achievement Award for both heart attack and stroke treatment, highlighting collaboration and contributions of both prehospital and hospital providers in the system of care. To qualify for these recognitions, agencies must meet specific criteria that reduce the time between an eligible patient’s first EMS medical contact to hospital arrival and treatment with cath lab intervention (in heart attack cases) or thrombolytic therapy.
